WebSphere
eXtended Transaction Runtime (WXTR) version 2.1 was released last month, on 15th
June. Version 2.1 brings a number of enhancements to the first version 1.0 that
was released an year ago. Primary
themes of version 2.1 are targeted at enhancing the overall value
proposition of hosting COBOL applications in WebSphere Application Server (WAS)
along side Java EE applications to unlock the value of existing COBOL
applications with new ones written in Java EE.

The
picture below depicts the three major themes very well,

On the
first note, WXTR extends from being a COBOL container on WAS to support C
application deployment as well. With this, traditional transactional
applications written in C or COBOL can be hosted by WXTR in line with Java EE
applications on WAS. WXTR now supports
Oracle database as a resource manager in addition to DB2.

With
version 2.1, WXTR delivers a greater value through superior integration, higher
scalability and security features.

You can have a Java and a
COBOL or C program share the same transactional context. What it means is,
you can start a transaction from a Java EE application and have the modules
in COBOL or C programs part of the same transaction. Like they say, you
can have Java, COBOL or C applications in the same logical unit of work.

COBOL or C applications can
be part of a cluster along with a Java EE program in a seamless manner
using WAS ND. While we can exploit the clustering feature in WAS ND. Failover mechanisms can be implemented
using HACMP solutions.

Security context now gets
propagated from WAS to WXTR allowing users to maintain the same
credentials across and WXTR further uses this to authenticate or authorize.